Bending Basics: Build a Dirty Glitch Mixer
Learn about circuit bending and basic electronics by building your own dirty video mixer and then modding (bending) the circuit to make it your own!
All materials will be provided and are yours to keep!
Special Guest Artist: Fetz A/V!
Fetz will be joining to assist, especially during the creation portions, and answer questions/give input on creative applications for what we'll be building/incorporating video art into your own practice!
The Short Version:
You'll learn:
Basic Electronics Theory
Common Electronic Components and How They Work
How to Build Circuits on a Breadboard
The Fundamental Theory and Practice of Circuit Bending
How to Create Glitch Art/Visuals Using Video Signals and a Few Components
How to Capture Glitch Art
The Long Version:
The course is in 4 sections:
Basic Theory - I'll yap about the basic concepts of electronics theory you'll need to understand to build our glitch mixer. You don't need any prior knowledge, and I promise there won't be any math.
Building the Mixer - You'll get hands on building your mixer circuit. We'll be doing everything on a breadboard, so no soldering required! Video sources and displays will be set up for you to experiment with and make your own glitch art!
Break - Once you're happy with your mixer you can use this time to keep making art or do whatever your heart desires.
Bending Theory - I'll yap some more about how other, new electronic bits work, as well as some basic info/theory behind circuit bending and video bending.
Bending Time - Finally you'll get to do some bending yourself! Using the new and exciting information you've learned, you'll now bend your video mixer by changing signal paths/adding bits and bobs, and generally just breaking it in an interesting way! This phase is extremely experimental and will run till the end of our time. You can use as much or as little of this time as you want and I will be there to answer questions on whatever you're curious about during this time.
Optional (but Neat) Things:
Sources:
If you would like to bring your own source (photo, gif, video file, etc.) you can bring it on a USB stick or Standard (big) SD Card.
Try to keep files at or under 1080p resolution and small. We'll be using little media players that can play almost anything, but they aren't very powerful.
You can also bring in any VHS tapes or DVDs you might want to use.
Please note that we will be sharing sources, so don't bring anything you want to keep private. As far as content goes, we're all adults, but let's stick to an R rating or lower.
Captures:
One of the trickiest things about glitch art is learning how to capture it. There is a free app for Android/iOS called Blackmagic Camera that is super useful! Consider downloading the app and bringing a phone stand to capture your creations!
Alex Perry is a punk creative technologist and circuit bender working under the moniker Get Circuit Bent because his name is un-googleable.
Alex’s work is best described as “techno-bricolage.” Utilizing a combination of glitch/video art, sculpture, and circuit bending, he repurposes obsolete/discarded/broken electronics and other ephemera, reframing them as functional, artistic objects.
Alex lives in Oakland with his creative/life partner Leah, several cats, and an extremely doofy dog. Together, they make up Get Circuit Bent.
Fetz A/V (they/them) is an audio visual artist, VJ, & multimedia installation artist from the Bay Area, California. They create original visuals for artist performances, music videos and album art, CRT television installations, and VJ sets in nightclubs/music venues.
They are inspired by retro video games, VHS home movies, sci-fi, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) television, retro video and broadcast equipment, incorporating these elements and tools into their work.
They consider themselves a steward of old technology, giving discarded and forgotten hardware new artistic life and purpose.